Biplanes, Beatty and Back

11 June 2018
/ Words: John Morgan, Photos: Peter Hilkmann

The heading for this trip, Biplanes, Beatty and Back to the Beginning, sounded quite intriguing and attracted a good turn-out of 25 people in 14 cars. The weather wasn’t particularly great and we set off in light intermittent showers. All but one participant elected to go tops-up but David Ho had a theory that if you keep above about 60 kph you don’t get all that wet.

Our journey took us through interesting back roads which were suprisingly free from traffic seeing it was a long week-end and we arrived at our morning tea venue at Luskintyre Airfield pretty much on schedule. Here the hardworking volunteers who look after the place and maintain the aircraft stored here provided us with warming cups of tea and coffee. A delicious variety of homemade slices and cookies were also provided by Jen Boyko and Wendy Parsonage.

After morning tea we were given a tour of two of the hangar buildings which housed a number of interesting historical airplanes. Our host regularly pilots some of the Tiger Moths and he had an incredible knowledge of not only these planes but also of other types that were stored there. His presentation was quite unique and had many of us in stitches. Of course a photo shoot including one of the Tiger Moths and some of our cars in front of the main hangar was necessary and then it was time to move on.

From here, still in dismal wet conditions, we continued on to our lunch stop traversing roads that quite a few people, myself included, admitted to never having been on before. The Beatty Hotel at East Gresford welcomed us with its cosy fire warmed dining room and we all settled in for a well earned lunch and a great chance to have a chat.After lunch it was time for goodbyes as some of the group needed to return home by diverse routes. Some of us completed the Back to the Beginning, passing our morning’s starting point en-route to dessert at Cessnock Maccas.And just for the record, David admitted that he was just a bit soggy after going topless all day.

We defeated the weather yet again proving you don’t necessarily need a sunny day to enjoy an MX5 outing. Thanks Wendy, Jen and George for organising another fabulous Hunter Chapter day out.